Join the weekly Classic Castle set review discussion.
Please post your opinions on the set play ability, piece selection, design, etc.
Which sets stand up to our catapult of critique and which ones crumble in shame!

Dual Defender was a polybag set released in 1992 exclusively in the United States.
It is a rotating double-armed catapult for the Black Knights.
The set comes with two siege workers, stone shot, and various accessories.

Join the weekly Classic Castle set review discussion.
Please post your opinions on the set play ability, piece selection, design, etc.
Which sets stand up to our catapult of critique and which ones crumble in shame!

Kotaro Ono, aka Earl-0, is an AFOL from Tokyo, Japan.
He received his first DUPLO when he was 3, and built for over a decade until falling into his dark ages.
At 23 years old, Johnny Thunder and Han Solo raised him from the LEGO dead, and he's been building ever since.
Mostly he builds in Town, with some space and some great castle/fantasy MOCs, such as his
Castle Traveling.
He was also one of the very early vignette builders.
Recently he was inspired by the connectibility of the skeleton horse in the new Castle line,
and held a HOW/CON 2007 contest on his blog.
A number of Japanese builders entered creations based on the
skeleton horse and the
skeleton body.
Many entries take the basic frames and use them in very innovative ways.
The entry pictured above is "The Gatekeeper."

Several months ago we had a thread asking our questions about the Castle 2007 sets.
Matthew Ashton, the Castle Product Lead Designer, has been kind enough to respond.
Check out his in depth Castle article.

Matt and the other Castle designers are very busy and will not be able to answer any follow up questions.
They likely will read and see your comments.
Please respond to this article in the original forum
thread.

Join the weekly Classic Castle set review discussion.
Please post your opinions on the set play ability, piece selection, design, etc.
Which sets stand up to our catapult of critique and which ones crumble in shame!

Black Knight's Battering Ram was released in 1993.
It is a part the multi-theme Variety Pack 1967 which was only available in America.
The ram has a raised panel to stop arrows.
This set comes with one siege worker and various accessories.

On this day in 1932 Ole Kirk Christiansen, a Danish Carpenter, founded LEGO in the small village of Billund.
We would like to thank all of the employees of the LEGO Group and the Christiansen family for creating the toys that we love.
Congratulations on 75 years in business!

“I feel an immense sense of pleasure and pride when I meet children and adults who enjoy our products.
Throughout its 75-year history the LEGO Group has been through difficult and good times –
fortunately much more good than difficult! This has been possible only because we have been blessed with –
and still have – an incredibly committed team of employees.
They have helped to keep alive the fundamental principles on which my grandfather set up the company.
So I’m confident that we can look forward to the next 75 years.” - Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen

William Howard (WilliamH in our forum) is an AFOL from Petersfield, on the south coast of the United Kingdom.
When he first came out of his Dark Ages he was mainly into Technic and Monorail.
That changed when he became involved in the Brickish Association
and started developing an idea for a fortified Castle town for group displays.
Now Castle has taken over his LEGO building, and that's not such a bad thing.
Feeling that the CC standard gives overly short walls, and also wanting to expedite setup and teardown,
he's created his own display standard
(described on pages 6 and 7 of this newsletter).
Recently he's gone through and refined and rebuilt his
modular castle in preparation for five upcoming shows.
This castle is made up of several modules
that can be quickly rearranged to give various display configurations depending on the available space.
The open spaces can be filled by the creations of other Brickish Association members or by William's
marketplace MOCs
(or see page 4 of this newsletter.
The keep of this castle was inspired by Harlech Castle
and the large outer bailey was inspired by Dunstanburgh.
He also draws a lot of inspiration from the work of James Stacey.

William's creations can be found on his Brickshelf or his MOCpage.
In addition to CC and the Brickish Association,
he is a member of the various common forums and is also a member of the LDRAW Steering Committee.